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Since 2015, the IRC and Mitzvah Corps Pacific Northwest summer camp has engaged over 120 Jewish teens and 150 refugees in the greater Seattle area. As our work together continues to blossom, so have the needs of the local refugee community, leading to the creation of a second summer camp location in Kent, WA this past 2017 summer. The piece below, which aired on Q13 Fox in King County, WA, offers a brief glimpse into a day at our camp.

Our teens have been inundated with information, their eyes open to the complexities of the world, to the challenges that still require solutions, and the grey areas that they'll grapple with for a lifetime. And yet, when we recite the Sh'ma, we're reminded that at the core of the human experience is how we hear one another.

Focusing on the idea of unity and oneness, we drew from our individual experience and interpretations to create an alternative t’filah service for our final Shabbat together. Participants chose different images - either ones that they had taken before or new images taken on this trip - that were emblematic of prayers from our Shabbat Morning Service.

Through working with the International Rescue Committee to create a summer camp for refugee children, we have helped them develop a safe place to welcome them to America and to have fun, all while giving their parents time for themselves. Even though it has only been two days, we have developed close and meaningful relationships with the campers. It has been a unique privilege to offer time and assistance for these kids to grow and simply enjoy themselves.

I have gotten to sit down with friends and talk naturally about these issues. It has been authentic and important and has made me feel as if I'm not the only one asking questions about my identity and history.

At Mitzvah Corps, we place a high value on the ability to articulate a narrative, to compellingly carry another person along your journey, to recreate through the power of language the context of how we each arrived here, in this moment. Hineynu, here we are.